Space Invaders - Fukkatsu No Hi (PC Engine)

Vertical fixed
Checkpoints OFF
1 Difficulty level
7 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Taito
Published by Taito in 1990

The days of glory of Space Invaders are long gone. By that I mean the craze that hit arcades in their infancy so that people could compete and repel those slowly-descending aliens in a static screen, as well as the alleged shortage of coins in Japan, for example. The original formula is now old and decrepit, and the slightest idea of having to submit myself to it bores me to the bone. During the 16-bit era, however, Taito fortunately started to expand the old recipe into something more dynamic, with a different sort of challenge that not only felt fresh and challenging but also allowed players to end the invaders' offensive for good.

Space Invaders - Fukkatsu no Hi for the PC Engine is far more than a simple port of Taito’s legendary arcade hit. It stands as a definitive tribute to the game that sparked the global shoot 'em up craze, but it also offers a unique package that unites two games in one. The title translates to "Day of Resurrection" and bridges the gap between eras by featuring a pixel-perfect rendition of the 1978 original alongside a revamped "Plus" mode. Plus mode comprises seven stages of fixed vertical shooting divided in 25 waves, and that's where the meat covers the bone here. It's the sole reason why most people would even approach the game in the first place, myself included.

From the main screen, if you go the left option you'll play a somewhat faithful rendition of the original game, so no surprises there. If you go to the right option then you'll have access to the "Plus version", which kickstarts a neat intro with your ship departing to battle with a display of polygons. The pre-screen prior to each level shows the name of the stage, the number of the starting wave (it's always 1 if you don't continue) and the number of continues left. For single-credit attempts at the game these numbers are moot, but you do get two extra continues as each stage is beaten.

An honest credit in the "Plus Version" mode of Space Invaders - Fukkatsu No Hi
(courtesy of YouTube user The VideoGames Museum)

By shooting down the invader lines they will slowly move faster, to the point where the last remaining alien will move really fast, requiring the player to exercise good aiming. If this last invader touches the surface the credit will end right there regardless of remaining lives left. There's no way to upgrade your firepower, which is limited to a single shot at any given time. The good news is that these shots can block every single enemy fire, normal bullets and lasers alike. Every now and then a flying saucer will cruise the top of the screen, carrying items to make your life easier.

But there's a catch with the saucers. You need to hit them at their exact center, otherwise they won't drop anything. Hitting the tips will only result in points, but no goodies. That's okay in the early levels, but later on things get so difficult that you definitely need to rely on whatever the game might give you. The assortment of items includes:

• Life recovery (RECOVER-S): adds 2 extra lives (note: an extra life is also granted after stage completion). 
• Homing beam (H-BEAM): single shots that always target the closest alien in the enemy armada.
• Buster Laser 1 (BL1): straight laser that obliterates a complete vertical line of invaders.
• Buster Laser 2 (BL2): movable straight laser that can be displaced left or fight (if used with directionals) or fired straight like BL1 (without using directionals). 
• Hyper Laser (H-L): two thick blue shots that obliterates a complete horizontal line of invaders.
• Hyper Shield (H.SHIELD): temporary invincibility.
• Fire Flower Laser (FFL): a laser shower that explodes on the top the screen and falls down to the sides.
• Super Inazuma Attack (S.I.A.) - a small number of powerful shots that can destroy up to three vertical lines of invaders.
• Time stop (T-STOP) - freezes all invader movement and shots for a brief while.

Don't be fooled by the game's friendly pace in the beginning. The difficulty slope is remarkable, with invaders quickly increasing aggression with faster shots and diagonal attacks. The game has a random nature to stage layouts, with varying formation types and backgrounds. Some of them have fixed obstacles that block your firepower, but two variants are particularly aggravating: the one that unfolds in near darkness (as if you had a narrow flashlight above the ship) and the stage with two sets of asymmetrical invaders that travel only half the screen to descend. Sometimes the latter does not appear at all, but on the other hand you might come accross two dark stages in the same run.

The very satisfying effect of the Fire Flower Laser

Fukkatsu No Hi's initial three stages have 3 waves each, but all subsequent levels come with 4 waves. Overcoming the odds to reach the end is no joke though. The game is a tad harder than sibling Space Invaders '91 on the Mega Drive, and requires not only a good degree of reflex and aiming skills but also a deep knowledge of how items work. They disappear really fast, and knowing what each one does is not as intuitive as you might think. The invincibility shield, for example, is the best single item you might get, so there are times where it's just better to avoid the others – unless it's the extra lives when you're down in your reserve (it's not possible to have more than 9 lives in stock). Buster Laser 2 is tricky to use, and often leads to terrible mistakes if you don't pay attention to directionals. Important: any new item taken overrides the effect of the previous one, and any active item is carried over between waves in the same stage only. 

A turbo controller is also definitely recommended if you want to get serious with this game. There is a trick to get autofire but it didn' work all the time with me (button I + RUN at the start screen). Aside from that, general tips to any Space Invaders game still apply of course. When destroying the last invader, always be close to the side that favors your strategy, which is often the side to where the alien armada moves first. Your ship is rather slow, after all. And it might be just my overall dexterity waning with age, but I always preferred to start any level on the right side. Alas!  

Once finally acquainted with everything, I kept hammering the game for a few days until my strategies clicked with the 1CC result below. As I mentioned above, Fukkatsu No Hi is on par with Space Invaders '91 in terms of fun, but it's definitely a tougher challenge. The soundtrack isn't endowed with the rocking punch of the Mega Drive game but is decent enough. In the end, my opinion is that both should be experienced together for a maximized 16-bit invader fix. Don't bother going to the Super Nintendo version, it's based on Space Invaders DX and does not offer anything more than the old trivial endless drag.